BACKGROUND: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become an established therapeutic option for patients with symptomatic, severe aortic valve stenosis, who are ineligible or at high risk for conventional surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). It was recently reported that leaflet thickening and reduced leaflet motion, verified by four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT), was not uncommon after both TAVR and SAVR. It has been emphasized that this phenomenon should be further investigated for its effect on clinical outcomes (e.g. stroke) and valve durability. As this valve leaflet thickening and reduced motion could be reversed by oral anticoagulant (OAC) treatment and was not observed in patients on chronic OAC therapy, it has been hypothesized that this phenomenon could be related to possible leaflet thrombosis or a "thrombotic film" on the leaflets.
AIM: To evaluate whether a rivaroxaban-based strategy, following successful TAVR, compared to an antiplatelet-based strategy, is superior in reducing subclinical valve leaflet thickening and motion abnormalities - as detected by 4DCT-scan.
POPULATION: All patients undergoing successful TAVR by ileofemoral or subclavian access with an approved TAVR device will be screened for eligibility. Included subjects must provide written informed consent. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are listed below.
DESIGN: The GALILEO-4D trial will be conducted as a substudy of the multicenter, open-label, randomized, event-driven, active-controlled GALILEO trial. Patients will be 1:1 randomized to an antiplatelet-based strategy vs. rivaroxaban-based strategy - the randomization will adopt the same 1:1 randomization of the main GALILEO trial. In case the GALILEO-4D trial should still be continued after completion of the main GALILEO trial, this 1:1 randomization will be continued until inclusion of 150 patients in both treatment groups. In total, 300 patients will be randomized in the GALILEO-4D trial.
INTERVENTION: Subjects in the GALILEO-4D substudy will receive the same intervention as in the main GALILEO study. In addition, a 4DCT-scan and echocardiography will be performed at 90 days after randomization.
END POINTS: The primary endpoint constitutes the rate of patients with at least one prosthetic leaflet with \> 50% motion reduction as assessed by cardiac 4DCT-scan (total N = 300). The secondary endpoints are listed below.
